Blister package

ABSTRACT

A blister package (10) is formed of a rupturable substrate (12), a blister layer (11) formed over the rupturable substrate and a medicament (15) contained between the blister layer and the rupturable substrate. The blister package can be opened an give access to the medicament by deforming the blister layer so that it punctures the rupturable substrate and allows the medicament to be removed thereform, without applying directly a mechanical pressure on the medicament. This allows friable tablets to be protected and minimizes the breakage of all types of tablets during the opening of the blister pack.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional application Ser.No. 60/005,782, filed Oct. 20, 1995.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to article holding anddispensing containers and a method of opening these article holding anddispensing containers and, more particularly, to a medication or tabletholding and dispensing package which permits visual examination of eachdiscrete article or tablet contained therein and a method for openingthis package.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Blister-type medication dispensers have achieved great acceptance in thefield of pharmaceutical packaging. Various types of blister-type pilldispensers are illustrated in Design Patent No. 237 864 and U.S. Pat.Nos. 3,054,503, 3,380,578, 3,503,493, 3,933,245, 4,158,411, 4,371,080,4,429,792, 4,574,954 and 4,850,489.

A common method of removing the medication from the prior art blisterpackages requires the use of a downward pressure applied to an uppersurface of the blister thereby forcing the medication against arupturable substrate which results in the rupturing of the substrate andthe egress of the medication from the blister package. This method ofremoving the medication from the blister package is unsatisfactory whenthe medicament is highly friable. The forcing of the contact of themedicament with the rupturable substrate may result in the medicamentcrumbling and the loss of quantities of medication during its removalfrom the blister pack. Therefore, there is a need to provide a blisterpack for frangible medication which can be opened without using thefrangible medication as the primary means for rupturing the rupturablesubstrate making up the blister package and thereby avoiding thecrumbling of the friable medication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a containerfor receiving and storing individual articles of medication, such astablets or pills, which allows for the removal of the medicationtherefrom without using the medication as the principal means inbreaking a rupturable substrate of the container.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method ofopening a blister package containing a medication in which themedication is not used as the primary means of rupturing a rupturablesubstrate making up the blister package.

These and other objects are accomplished by providing a blister packagemade up of a rupturable substrate, a blister layer formed over therupturable substrate and a medicament contained between the rupturablesubstrate and the blister layer. The blister layer is formed from asubstantially rigid material and has a first blister contained thereinwhich is sized to completely contain therein the medicament. A secondblister is formed in the blister layer and is of annular configurationand surrounds and is joined to the first blister at a depression formedin the blister layer between the first and second blisters. Thedepression comprises means for engaging with and rupturing therupturable substrate so that the medicament can be removed from theblister pack.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a blister pack according to a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a blister package according to a secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the blister package of FIG. 1 takenalong lines 3--3 thereof;

FIG. 4 illustrates the first step in opening the blister package of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the blister layer initially rupturing the rupturablesubstrate; and

FIG. 6 illustrates the blister layer rupturing the rupturable substrateto an extent that the medication can be removed from the blister.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a first embodiment of theblister package of the present invention is shown generally at 10. Asshown in FIG. 3, the blister pack of the present invention is generallymade up of a blister layer 11, a rupturable substrate 12 and amedicament 15 in the form of a tablet or pill contained between theblister layer 11 and the rupturable substrate 12.

The blister layer 11 is preferably made of a thermoplastic material,such as polyvinyl chloride or a polyolefin, and is formed to have afirst blister 16 provided therein and a second annular blister 17surrounding the first blister 16. The first blister 16 is joined to thesecond annular blister 17 by a depression 20 formed in the blister layer11. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the first and second blisters can be ofcircular, oblong or any other type of configuration. The first blister16 is of a size that it can completely receive and contain therein themedicament 15. The thickness of the blister layer 11 is not critical andis determined according to the size of the medicament 15 containedtherein. The blister layer 11 is thinner for smaller size medicamentswhich are contained in correspondingly smaller first blisters 17 andthicker for larger size medicaments 15 with correspondingly larger sizefirst blisters 17. A suitable size range for the thickness of theblister layer 11 is from 0.005 to 0.015 inch, with 0.01 inch beingsuitable for most standard applications.

The blister layer 11 is formed over the frangible substrate 12 which maybe made of paper, a metal foil or any other suitable material. A metalfoil such as aluminum foil is preferred as the rupturable substrate andtempered aluminum foil is particularly preferred. Additionally, therupturable substrate 12 may be made of a laminate of a paper and a metalfoil with the foil upper surface being coated with a film of athermoplastic material such as polyethylene, polystyrene or the like.The rupturable substrate 12 may be sealed to the blister layer 11through the application of heat and pressure as is typically done in theart and the blisters 16, 17 may be formed in the blister layer 11through conventional thermal forming methods. The rupturable substrate12 may be composed of a plurality of laminated layers of differentmaterial as is customary in prior art blister packs as long as its basicoperation is not affected.

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate the method of removing a medicament 15 in tabletform from a blister pack 10 of the present invention. As illustrated inFIG. 4, the user applies a downward pressure to an upper surface of theblister layer 11. The downward pressure causes the annular blister 17 todeform and the depression 20 formed between the first blister 16 and thesecond blister 17 to come into contact with and penetrate the rupturablesubstrate 12. Since the volume of the first blister 16 is sufficient tocontain the medicament 15, the medicament itself is not pressed intocontact with the rupturable substrate 12. As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and6, continued pressure on the upper surface of the first blister 16causes the depression 20 to completely rupture the rupturable substrate12 thereby enabling the medicament 15 to be removed from the blisterpack 10 without the medicament itself being used to rupture therupturable substrate 12. As such, the present invention allows theremoval of a frangible medicament from a blister pack without thefracturing and crumbling of the medicament.

Although the present invention has been described in specific detail byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it is understood that certain changes and modificationsmay be made by one of ordinary skill in the art and still be within thespirit of the invention and scope of the following claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A blister packagecomprising a rupturable substrate, a blister layer formed over saidrupturable substrate and a medicament contained between said rupturablesubstrate and said blister layer, said blister layer being formed from asubstantially rigid material and having a first blister containedtherein, said first blister being sized to completely contain thereinsaid medicament, a second blister formed in said blister layer, saidsecond blister being of annular configuration and being joined to saidfirst blister at a depression formed in said blister layer between saidfirst and second blisters, said depression comprising means for engagingwith and rupturing said rupturable substrate so that said medicament canbe removed from said blister pack.
 2. The blister package of claim 1,wherein said first blister is of oblong configuration.
 3. The blisterpackage of claim 1, wherein said first blister is of circularconfiguration.
 4. The blister package of claim 1, wherein said blisterlayer is formed from polyvinyl chloride.
 5. The blister package of claim1, wherein said blister layer is formed from a thermoplastic material.6. The blister package of claim 1, wherein said blister layer has athickness of from about 0.005 to 0.015 inch.
 7. The blister package ofclaim 6, wherein said blister layer has a thickness of about 0.01 inch.8. The blister package of claim 1, wherein said rupturable substrate isformed from a tempered metal foil.
 9. A method of removing a medicamentfrom a blister package, said blister package comprising a rupturablesubstrate, a blister layer formed over said rupturable substrate and amedicament contained between said rupturable substrate and said blisterlayer, said blister layer having a first blister contained therein, saidfirst blister being sized to completely contain therein said medicament,a second blister formed in said blister layer, said second blister beingof annular configuration and being joined to said first blister at adepression formed in said blister layer between said first and secondblisters, said method comprising the steps of:applying pressure to a topsurface of said first blister; deforming said second annular blistersuch that said depression is brought into engagement with saidrupturable substrate; rupturing said rupturable substrate with saiddepression to provide an opening in said rupturable substrate; andremoving said medicament from the blister package through said openingprovided in said rupturable substrate.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein said first blister is of oblong configuration.
 11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein said first blister is of circular configuration. 12.The method of claim 9, wherein said blister layer is formed from athermoplastic material.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein said blisterlayer is formed from a polyolefin.
 14. The method of claim 9, whereinsaid blister layer is formed from polyvinyl chloride.
 15. The method ofclaim 9, wherein said blister layer has a thickness of from about 0.005to 0.015 inch.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein said blister layerhas a thickness of about 0.01 inch.
 17. The method of claim 9, whereinsaid rupturable substrate is formed from a tempered metal foil.